11st Water Research Horizon Conference

15/16 June 2021 | ONLINE EVENT

jointly organised by
Water Science Alliance and Water Research Network Baden-Württemberg
supported by Deutscher Stifterverband

Further Announcement + Programme Update – 05/2021

Droughts, Floods and their Emerging Challenges

One of the most obvious consequences of climate change are increasing intensities and frequencies of
droughts and floods, including emerging challenges for human and natural systems. The predicted in-
tensification of dry periods based on climate projections for Central Europe has already become evi-
dent in the past decades. In 2018, about 90 % of the German territory as well as of many other regions
in Europe and beyond suffered under droughts, with far reaching direct and indirect consequences for
agriculture, forestry, water supply, industry, transport and the energy sector as well as for ecology. On
the contrary, damages caused by heavy rain and flooding have significantly increased in the recent past,
including particularly high socio-economic losses in urban areas due to their complex infrastructures.

Dealing with droughts and floods stresses the need for a systemic and integrated approach that proves
to be sustainable for both, high and low water situations. So far, it has not yet been sufficiently under-
stood, why different regions react differently to extremes, which feedback mechanisms have an either
reinforcing or weakening effect and where the tipping points lie, that, when exceeded, will lead to
irreversible changes in environmental systems. It will be further challenging to better predict extremes,
in particular slow onset events that usually get less attention. Likewise, there is a considerable need to
understand and manage the interaction of extreme events with water pollution as well as with dy-
namic transport processes, such as first flush effects, severe erosion and sediment transport. Further-
more, most probably, changes in hydrological extremes may affect the resilience of ecosystems.

The 11th Water Research Horizon Conference would like to bring together national and international sci-
entists, practitioners and policy-makers with diverse backgrounds. Participants will engage in a multilat-
eral and multidisciplinary exchange about the role of research in addressing the emerging challenges of
floods and droughts. The main focus will be on the dynamic interplay of extreme events with human pro-
cesses and ecosystems in river basins as a basis to develop strategies for risk management and adaptation
measures.
Conference Programme – Course and Contents

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

13:00 Opening of the Conference (Peter Krebs, TU Dresden / Markus Weiler, Univ. of Freiburg)
13:10 Release and Presentation of the Water Science Alliance Strategy Paper
13:30 Keynote: Flash Droughts
Justin Sheffield – Hydrology and Remote Sensing, University of Southampton, UK
14:15 Award Ceremony for the ‘Water-Monitoring Prize’ of the Ritter Foundation
14:45 15 min Break
Session A1: Drought and Water Security Session C1: Tipping Elements – Response to
Extremes
15:00 At Risk of Drought: Prediction Challenges Protecting Rivers from High Water Temper-
from Climate to Hydrology to Impact ature Extremes under Global Change
Kerstin Stahl – Environmental Hydrological David Hannah – Hydrology, University of Bir-
Systems, University of Freiburg, Germany mingham, UK
15:30 Drought and Variability - Coping with Risk Continental-Scale Patterns and Causes of
and Uncertainty River Flooding
Mariele Evers – Ecohydrology and Water Wouter Berghuijs – Earth Sciences, VU Am-
Resource Management, University of Bonn, sterdam, The Netherlands
Germany
16:00 Water Scarcity in Germany: Lessons Response of Riverine Biota to Multiple
Learned after 3 Years and Perspective Op- Stressors
tions for Action
Christoph Donner – Harzwasserwerke Daniel Hering – Aquatic Ecology, University
GmbH, Hildesheim, Germany of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
16:30 10 min Break
16:40 Introduction to Open-Space Workshops
16:50 Open-Space (a) Open-Space (b) Open-Space (c) Open-Space (d)
Water Futures – NFDI meets Water Water Science Workshop for Young
Research under (NFDI4Earth & Alliance Career Scientists
dynamic Extremes NFDI4Ing) Strategy Paper

H. Kosow, Univ. P. Braesicke, KIT & Florian Leese, Water Research Net-
Stuttgart & P. Pelz, Univ. Duisburg-Es- work Baden-Württem-
S. Kirschke, UNU TU Darmstadt sen et al. berg
FLORES, Dresden
19:00 Evening Event: Virtual Come Together
20:00 Guided Virtual Tour to the Region's Gothic Cathedrals and the Black Forest

Colour scheme
Sessions A Sessions B Sessions C Open-Space
Keynotes
focusing on Droughts focusing on Floods Cross-Cutting Topics Workshops
Wednesday, 16 June 2021
13:00 Results of the Open Space Workshops
13:15 Keynote: Ecosystem Response to Extreme Droughts
Christiane Werner – Ecosystem Physiology, University of Freiburg, Germany
13:55 Award Ceremony ‘Water Resources Prize’ of the Rüdiger Kurt Bode Foundation
14:35 15 min Break
Session A2: Ecosystems under Pressure
14:50 Multiple Perspectives on Large-Scale Eco-
system Response to Drought
René Orth – Hydrology-Biosphere-Climate
Interactions, Max Planck Institute for Bioge-
ochemistry Jena, Germany
15:20 Forests & Droughts – Evidence of Risks and
Implications for Soil- and Water-Related
Ecosystem Services
Karl-Heinz Feger – Soil Science and Site
Ecology, TU Dresden, Germany
15:50 Predicting Impacts of Climate and Subse-
quent Hydrological Changes on Stream Or-
ganisms
Sonja Jähnig – Ecosystem Research, Leibniz
Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland
Fisheries (IGB), Germany
16:20 10 min Break
Session B2: Extremes in Urban Areas
16:30 Let (Urban) Water and Data Flow
Peter Steen Mikkelsen – Environmental En-
gineering, TU of Denmark, Denmark
17:00 Attribution of Changes in Drought and
Flood Damage
Heidi Kreibich – Flood Risk and Climate Ad-
aptation, German Research Centre for Geo-
sciences (GFZ), Potsdam, Germany
17:30 Extreme Precipitation - Lessons for Urban
Development and Urban Renewal
Jörn Birkmann – Urban Development and
Spatial Planning, University of Stuttgart,
Germany
18:00 Concluding Remarks
19:15 Guided Virtual Tour: Exhibition ‘Critical Zones’ at ZKM (Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe)
The conference is free of charge, please register here: https://water-research-horizon.de/
Session B1: Floods, Sediments and Pollution
Changes in Hydrogeomorphic Response to Ex-
treme Rainfall in Headwaters: Hazards & Vul-
nerabilities
Marco Borga – Agricultural, Forestry and Bio-
systems Engineering, University of Padua, Italy
Assessment of Bedload Supply in Steep Tor-
rents during Floods: An Instrument for Strate-
gic Planning with Local Impact
Catherine Berger – Natural Hazards, Geo7,
Bern, Switzerland
New Insights into Rain-Driven Pesticide Dyna-
mics with High-Temporal Resolution On-Site
Measurements in Agricultural Catchments
Christian Stamm – Environmental Chemistry,
eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland
Session C2: Multi-Hazard Risks
The Co-Evolution of Droughts and Heatwaves
in Europe
Luis Samaniego – Computational Hydrosystems,
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
Leipzig (UFZ), Germany
Adaptive Behaviour of Residents across Dif-
ferent Weather-related Hazards
Annegret Thieken – Geography and Disaster
Risk Research, University of Potsdam, Ger-
many
Multi-Hazards and the Assessing of Cascading
Effects: Challenges and Ways Forward
Christian Kuhlicke – Environmental Risks and Ex-
treme Events, Helmholtz Centre for Environmen-
tal Research Leipzig (UFZ), Germany